Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 296 Items

Expect immersing yourself in various layers of field recordings, alienated acoustic instruments and floating arrangements!

Producer Darren Cunningham aka Actress, joined by the London Contemporary Orchestra, premiere new material as well as expanded arrangements of their dark and brooding electronica. Showcased last year at The Barbican Centre London and Strelka Institute Moscow and in conjunction with Boiler Room this 12” release named simply ‘Audio Track 5’ serves as an introduction to a larger body which will be released on Ninja Tune and Boiler Room TV as both a Long Player and performance piece in Autumn 2017.

Over a decade of releases Cunningham has built a reputation as a fine creator of cerebral abstract techno, or R&B concrète, crafting pulsing kickdrums, jittering percussion and chopped sample loops into churning, rumbling tracks soaked in static. But he has also been on record saying he wants to make ‘classical stuff for a modern generation’.

In this new collaboration, commissioned and curated by Boiler Room and the London Contemporary Orchestra with support from Arts Council England, the London Contemporary Orchestra bring a new dimension to Cunningham’s choice of sounds. With the producer in effect using them as a new instrument, matching his electronic loops with precise manipulation of their acoustic instruments, together they form a heightened kind of chamber music.

"Rhythmic Brutalism" is the title of this release, available as two CD set or two separate 12 inch vinyl LPs; the title is also a very apt description of the music itself. Romania-born Alexandra Atnif is fascinated by the harsh, grey concrete beauty and minimally repetitive force of the brutalist post-war architecture of her homeland, and this fascination has given rise to the music here.

Emotional Response celebrates it's 10th Anniversary in repressing a label's long held favourite - Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Alexis Georgopoulos wonderful Fragments Of A Season - coming together perfectly for an album of laconic story-telling and atmospherics.

Over the past decade, Cantu-Ledesma and Georgopoulos have been frequent collaborators. With one another - Jefre's recent ""On The Echoing Green' Mexican Summer), Arp's "The Soft Wave" Smalltown Supersound) and The Alps "Le Voyage" Type) - and with others. Jefre has worked with Grouper aka Liz Harris), filmmaker Paul Clipson and has released music by Harold Budd, Oneohtrix Point Never and Keith Fullerton Whitman on his Root Strata imprint, while Alexis has worked with visual artists Tauba Auerbach and Doug Aitken, scored dance for Merce Cunningham, choreographer Jonah Bokaer and made liminal classical music with Canterbury composer Anthony Moore Frkwys 3 / Rvng Intl.).(Emotional) Especial

In all of their projects, the two have always been masters of atmosphere. Veering between romantic abstraction, filmic ambiguity and suggested narrative, their music draws on personal and collective memory, letting things surface. Fragments Of A Season represents a new and distinct chapter in their ongoing work together, continuing this lineage of understated but resonant work.

Arising from conversations wherein each revealed that they'd been working on tracks with a similar feel in mind, the two quickly realized their songs fit together quite effortlessly. The goal was to do something immediate and spare - most songs simply use an old drum machine and a few chorused guitars, featuring live performances with minimal editing. The result, and indeed the goal of the project, was not to make an album that would simply sounds like what one would expect of the two - there are no modular synths or sequenced basslines, no motorik rhythms or overdriven distortions. Rather, to pursue a tangent of simplicity and clarity.

The result is an album of warmth and cool, sparse but evocative, earthy and luminous, narrative and abstract, taking influence from Les Disques Crepescule and early Cherry Red artists i the duo also cite Eric Rohmer's "A Summer's Tale" and the photography of Luigi Ghirri, whose image graces the cover.

Song titles provide narrative hints. As does New York-based writer Leigh Gallagher's short story enclosed within. Each song finds the story advancing - on the beach ""Marine""); at a discotheque ""Madagascar""); sleeping in the afternoon "Mirror The Sky"). Memory of cobblestone streets and a recent relationship ""Cleo"", "The Streets Are Filled With Rain"). A sense that this temporary idyll will end casts a shadow. Ultimately, for reasons unclear, it does ""Lost Summer"").

There is the sense that a distinct arc has taken place. On some faraway beach, the buildings are white, the skies and sea turquoise. Waves rise and crest. A shaft of light crosses an empty room. A discotheque can be heard in the distance. A mist burns off. Over the course of the ensuing astral summer weeks, an encounter sets the world known previously in relief. Days stretch out and the nights hum.

close to NM

Limited edition 180gr vinyl.

Alveare is the result of a dialog between the artist/photographer Matthias Heiderich and the musician/composer Andrea Belfi initiated by IIKKI between February 2016 and October 2016. "Alveare" is a journey across and around man-made cement beehives - the legacy of a group of visionary architects.

Angel-Ho proclaimed virtuoso, also known as Angelo Valerio/Deep In The Pussy/Ruffle Queen, and a co-founder of NON Worldwide, is in celebration of what makes them uniquely queer. With a limited run of their vinyl titled Red Devil, Angel-Ho presents an array of classical electronic inspired cacophony. This is a chance for the symphony to be contextualized, since its release not having any word spoken by the artist a Beyoncé moment if you will. Red Devil is an autobiographical mix where by Angel presents the realities of the mind, ones ability to shift their perspectives of the world, through applying the principles of balance in their music. All which is deeply connected to the experiences queer and trans people encounter daily, be it personal demons to greeting violence in public to the reasoning of joy among the chaos, Angel describes it as transformation. So many people live in fear of transformation and I am not necessarily making it a point to gender, sexuality, but not limited to recent political or social acts in 2017. I enjoy transformation like many of my fellow artists around the globe. Everyone forgets that I studied art and have done performances prior to the release of Ascension. Being able to see beyond my mind and make things tangible is a mirror of how I move through space, time, and transformation, wasting no time in doing so I want to be the best I can be because in doing so I see the cause and effect of being true to ones nature, to do what makes you happy with what youve got. Red Devil is led by a fierce orchestra and choir, of which Angel-Ho visualises animates in their dreamscape, not being reduced to its potential as a digital sound file. It is inspired greatly by the collision of music styles and genres and true to the proceeding agency of Angels own envisioning of a, moffie only, klopse troupe roaming through the neighbourhood at 2am in the Summer with their sharpened instruments ghostly parading the echo of their afternoon rehersals. Red Devil becomes a celebration of all that is denied by ourselves and others. The self-saboteur, as RuPaul Andre Charles heralds, is what is vanquished through ones ability to name it and deconstruct the information as to why one would perceive a dismal perception of reality what halts ones ability to achieve and excel. It is through this action we can equip ourselves with the tools we need to perceiver in a world where we living queer, breathing trans, bodies have to everyday prepare ourselves for the worst when leaving the solitude of our homes and safety of our family.

Ambient power duo Anjou’s sophomore statement continues in the vein of their 2014 debut, unfurling a full hour of mesmeric synthetic drift and veiled melodic undertow. Comprised of Mark Nelson (of pioneering post-rock experimentalists Labradford and Pan·American) and Robert Donne (of Labradford, Aix Em Klemm, Cristal), the group works largely in long-form suites of sound, alternately spacious and dense.

Epithymia’s six pieces embrace flux and ambiguity: drones swell and shudder, hushed currents of noise glitch and dissolve, atmospheres congeal and liquify. As with the participants’ prior projects, Anjou evokes a shadowed, mysterious mood, variously melancholy and transcendent. The album is an accumulation of craftsmanship and experience, blurred forms traced in light and fog.

Following on from this year's brooding debut, Anthony Linell gathers a storming double 12" of material to depth charge vacant participants and lilting movers. Leaving aside his well established Abdulla Rashim moniker, Emerald Fluorescents feels like an agile side-step into heavier terrain with a renewed sense of purpose. Scattered fractal stabs revolve around quietly furious low-end fit outs with enough sharp edges to let you know it's someone else's space.

Only one copy per customer!

Martinique is an island in the Lesser Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea found between the Greater Antilles (Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rica) to the north-west and the continent of South America to the south. Martinique is one of the eighteen regions of France (there are five overseas regions) and an integral part of the French Republic. As part of France, Martinique is also part of the European Union, and its currency is the Euro. The official language is French, and virtually the entire population speaks Antillean Creole. It was first claimed by France in 1635 under the reign of King Louis XIII.

Located geographically closer to the United States than to Europe, the Antilles absorbed jazz and mixed it with the traditional rhythms of their islands: the Biguine, Gwo Ka, Tumbélé. Many artists over the years have explored this uniquely affecting mix: D’Alexandre Stellio, Jean-Claude Montredon, Al Lirvat, Acques Coursil and Mario Caning. But one of the best exemplars of this fusing of American jazz and the Antillean musical tradition was pianist and composer Marius Cultier.
Marius Cultier was born in 1942 in Fort-de-France, Martinique. A precocious talent for an early age, at nine he conducted with the L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Fançaise, the French national public broadcasting organisation.

As a young man, Cultier hosted a radio show, ‘Punch en Musique,’ which proved a hit with the public and his name and reputation slowly built. Tragedy struck him at 14 when he was orphaned and he was looked after by this elder sister.

As tragic as 1956 proved for Cultier, it was to be a watershed year for another reason - it was the year he discovered jazz. It wasn’t long before he was fusing the musical styles and language of the West Indies with jazz and he began live performances at the Hôtel l’Impératrice.

Very quickly Cultier became an in-demand concert attraction in Martinique and venue owners soon began to book him across the island. His reputation grew and before long he was also performing across the Caribbean.

As his stature grew, he began to receive accolades and prizes, including the International Piano Conquest prize in Puerto Rico for his performance of "Round Midnight”.
He went to Canada in 1966 - initially for a few weeks - where he stayed for several years. Whilst there he met and played with established jazz artists before continuing his journey in the United States, and then Europe, where he played in Paris at the Palais des Congrès at the invitation of the then President, Valérie Giscard D’Estaing, before returning to Martinique in 1973.

This release is pressed on heavyweight vinyl. The cover is presented on original glued prints on thick cardboard in a PVC outer sleeve.

Still in shrink but opened. Vinyl is close to NM.

Before Disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur wanted to be a composer.

His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music.

Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed “Instrumentals” in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, “I was awakened, or re-awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music”.

Initially intended to be performed in one 48 hour cycle, “Instrumentals” was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress.

The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen (1975 and 1978) and Franklin St. Arts Center (1977) feature the cream of that eras downtown new music scene including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Julius Eastman, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Garrett List, Andy Paley, Bill Ruyle, Dave Van Tieghem, and Peter Zummo.

Pitchfork lauded “Instrumentals” Vol. 1 as a masterpiece and one of Arthur’s “greatest achievements”. Americana touching on Copeland, Ives, and maybe even Brian Wilson. “Instrumentals” Vol. 2 is a moving, deeply pastoral work performed by the CETA Orchestra and conducted by Julius Eastman.

Also included are two of Arthur’s most elusive compositions, Reach One, and Sketch For “Face Of Helen”. Recorded live in 1975 at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Reach One is a minimal, hypnotic ambient soundscape written and performed for two Fender Rhodes pianos. Sketch For “Face Of Helen” was inspired by Arthur’s work with friend and composer Arnold Dreyblatt, recorded with an electronic tone generator, keyboard and ambient recordings of a rumbling tugboat from the Hudson River.

For this remastered vinyl edition, a key part of Arthur’s musical life has been restored. The sparkling, multidimensional results take the listener closer to Arthur’s coast-to-coast journey: his iconoclastic determination to combine pop and art music; and his desire to make music that would resonate in the present and, ultimately, across time.

The remastered double LP comes with a 12-page booklet including liner notes by Tim Lawrence, Ernie Brooks and Arthur Russell.

Channeling a love affair with classic '90s hip-hop, an affinity for otherworldly themes and an ear for raw funk, Barclay Crenshaw uses his given birth name to bare his soul and deliver a slowed-down, emotive collection of collaborations and instrumentals. This self-titled debut album is a left-field departure from his better-known alias, Claude VonStroke, but the quality is undeniably the same. The themes of ancient alien abductions and exploration of time and space are discovered and brought to life over ten tracks that sound like a mixture of gold rope chains and new age enlightenment. Modern organic beats mixed with gorgeous melodic moments and underlying grittiness create an experience that is eclectic, expressive and expansive. Coded art furthers the sense of mystery and the unknown, harking back to the past while gazing into the future.

Guests include a wide array of artists, from bass maestro Mr. Carmack to the U.K.’s inspired Lady Chann, Flatbush emcees The Underachievers, and even a Cool Kids reunion from Chuck Inglish & Sir Michael Rocks.

Back in print for the first time since release, and pressed on White In Tan Color In Color Vinyl with White Splatter

in we go... the title track is lifted from the great 'Visions from Limbus' casette (2015). Kraut pleaser, 'Welson', and the doomy Etranglé Par Tes Limbes are two new creations to flow from Ernesto González's psychadelic fingers....

Metaclaw is blazed studio session that time could have forgotten...but Offen Music didn't. A glorious downbeat synth plodder/head nodder from the minds of three very muscial friends.. features remixes from Gordon Pohl and Glib'r.. TIP!

Decadent Yet Depraved, the debut album by Belief Defect, finds shelter and complicity in Raster as home and label. Familiar with the underground music scene and how its skeptical nature can also be an obstacle to overcome, Belief Defect abandon any claim or credit in an attempt to transcend the limits authorship imposes, avoid the boundaries or expectations earned or self imposed and find the clearest, most direct path to their music for themselves and the listener. At the core of the album is the music that inspired them, the conclusion of countless recordings listened to in their formative years that ultimately result in a life-long devotion to electronic music: from dance floor to primal anger and self-annihilating noise, to transcendental, ambient escapism and intense self-reflexive sonic layering. The result is a soundtrack for this apocalyptic time, an uncompromising reflection on the state of mankind and its uncertain future, underscored by a sense of religious and secular demise referenced in track titles, samples, and soundscapes scattered throughout the album. Yet, more than a political statement Decadent Yet Depraved is an introspective journey, turning each listener into a spiritual soul-seeker staring into the abyss, reaching for some kind of cathartic truthfulness.

Selwa Abd (originally from Morocco, currently residing in Brooklyn) uses the fictional character Bergsonist, from Brooklyn, Slovakia, as her musical guise. Derived from Deleuze's Bergsonism, Bergsonist uses intuition as a method to deliver her/his instinctive psychoanalytic theories. A blend of different audio sources and samples are used as a way to capture the essence of the 'present' moment, manipulating found sounds along with self-concocted digital fragments to combine in in the span of a set, given time. Bergsonist allows inspiration to come from anywhere, yet she/he limits themselves by the gear/tools that are used. The approach consists of inhaling all the energy of the city - influenced by trips to museums, galleries, shows, talking to people. and sensing nature - and exhaling it sonically. Bergsonist reacts to this energy and inspiration without any specific rules, styles, or genres - extending the array of possibilities by always pushing preconceived uses of the tools. Following a slew of cassette-only releases from labels across the global map and a split 12" with Isabella on Borft Records last year, Selwa shares her most twisted and considered compositions to date with Mutation. Four fire-stoking tracks of electro convulsions sparked from indecipherable depths inflame new terrains for an artist whose output is inextinguishable - prolific barely covers the rapidity with which Bergsonist shares new jams to a lucky few - proffering Mutation as an indelible moment in Selwa's blossoming career. Mutation features a ripped / thrashed remix from in-the-cut edit wizard, Murray CY. Mutation will be available in a limited vinyl edition of 200 with artwork designed and conceived by Selwa and Benoit Canaud Studio.